Urban Homes of North Africa
The typical Moorish house consists of an irregular quadrilateral, on three sides of which run long rooms not more than ten or twelve feet wide, the fourth being occupied by…
From: 1902 C.E. To: 1902 C.E.
Location: Morocco
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
“Where the Moors Live,” from The Moors: A Comprehensive Description by Budgett Meakin, 1902.
"Home" with all its associations for us, is hardly the word to apply to most eastern dwellings, though no doubt to their inmates—as representing the centre of all they know of family life—they do possess a charm of their own, notwithstanding that no special word may exist which conveys the same meaning. Home-life, however, does not depend on the form of the dwelling, though some of the features of Moorish houses are the outcome of the peculiar social arrangements of Islam. For instance, the almost universal absence of outside windows, and the double turn of the entrance passage, are for the purpose of secluding the women from public gaze: the division of the larger houses into separate suites—almost independent dwellings—being for similar reasons, as well as to accommodate the various wives of the wealthy. The open central court-yards, the flat roofs and the narrow rooms, are governed by the climate and available materials for building.
The typical Moorish house consists of an irregular quadrilateral, on three sides of which run long rooms not more than ten or twelve feet wide, the fourth being occupied by the kitchen, of similar width, but shorter, having the entrance-passage, stairs and insanitary convenience in the corner. The central court thus formed is usually open to the sky, but surrounded by a covered colonnade which supports a second, if there is an upper storey, as is often the case in towns, and a third but seldom. The court is paved with tiles of some artistic merit, unless it is of plaster, red or whitewashed; or in the coast towns, particularly in houses inhabited by Jews, paved with black and white marble; or an imitation, in which case the stairs are also white marble, and sometimes the dado, though cheap Spanish tile-work is now used commonly on the coast.
In strictly native buildings the dado is of Fez or Tetuan tiles, the difference between the two being that the former are squares cut down to the requisite shapes, while the latter are made of the shapes required, with much less effect. Cold colours exclusively are used in the tiles, which are each of one colour only, except in the case of inscriptions, and as the white employed is always more or less tinted, the effect is most agreeable. A fountain often gurgles in the centre, surrounded by orange-trees, or in less pretentious dwellings the inhabitants literally live under their own vine and fig tree in the yard. The pillars round this are of plaster or marble, in the latter case of foreign importation and workmanship, and support horse-shoe arches, often elegantly scalloped, across which wooden stays are not considered unsightly.
One of the most notable peculiarities of Moorish domestic architecture is the absolute irregularity of the whole. It is not too much to say that except by accident no two lines are ever parallel or horizontal: the shape of the house generally follows the shape of the ground, whatever that may be, the angles of the walls inside reducing the shape of the central court to something approaching a square, but if this be impossible, a second court and surroundings may be introduced to serve as quarters either for the servants or for a favourite wife, or as a suite of guest-chambers with separate entrance, such as is often introduced as a mezzanine floor above the kitchen near the entrance.
This is almost invariably an "L shaped passage, so that no one from without can look into the court, a striking contrast to the Jewish houses, which frequently have a front-door leading directly onto the "patio," generally open during the day.
The Moorish front-door, most jealously guarded, is a massive-looking construction studded with heads of great nails in rows, and ornamented with a gigantic ring for a knocker. The lock is in proportion, and the key becomes a formidable weapon on occasion.
When a visitor knocks he hears the patter of bare feet inside, and is presently answered by a piping voice within—probably that of a little slave-girl—"Who's there?" But on learning the name, instead of opening the door, she patters off to inform her master, who, if his guest be of sufficient importance, will most likely come himself to give admission, calling as he does so to his women-folk, "Make way! Make way!" Then, throwing wide the door, he offers his hand with all the customary salutations and greetings, leading the visitor into an apparently deserted dwelling, in which no females except slaves are seen. Crossing the courtyard, they pass up the narrow, steep, tiled stairs with wooded edges to the treads, and so to the principal chamber,—dining-room, drawing-room, bedroom and work-room in turn,—over the entrance to which, instead of shutting the huge pair of doors, a cotton sheet is let down as a curtain which must not be approached or lifted till the host has again given notice to the women "Make way!"
Each of the rooms has a single doorway in the centre to match, of height and width sufficient to admit all light required, which is not much in this bright atmosphere, where all walls are white-washed. Additional air, and of course some light, are sometimes admitted by a delicate plaster fret-work over the door-way, and more commonly by narrow, unglazed slits high up on the walls, a foot or a foot and a half by two or three inches, like loopholes widely splayed inside.
The doors are huge and two-leaved, often carved and painted in arabesques, and swing clear of the arch on the outside, the hinges being simply the side pieces lengthened top and bottom, and fitted into sockets. Each of the leaves of a large door is provided with a smaller horse-shoe door for use when they are closed. If the rooms are very long, light arches are often thrown across at about a fourth from each end.
Most Moorish rooms are furnished in the same style, varying only according to the owner's fortune. The floor is covered with rush matting or hand made carpet, or both, which must not be walked upon with shoes, so they are removed at the threshold. When receiving Europeans, Moors, in their politeness, will often entreat them not to remove their boots, and strangers are sometimes ill-advised enough to yield, but do not hear the subsequent remarks, or realize how far attention to the reasonable native prejudice in matters of this kind will go in assisting friendly relations.
Round the walls are placed mattresses covered with print or coloured cloth protected by semi-transparent cotton, sometimes embroidered across the ends in silk. These are the only seats provided, and serve also as beds, though frequently there are also big brass bedsteads at either end of the room, more often for show than for use, except that in many homes the tea-things are kept beneath them. Some of the poorer houses have wide wooden shelves across the ends of the room to serve as bedsteads.
The post of honour is the centre of the wall facing the door-way, the seats right and left ranking next. The host will either seat himself on the end, or if of lower rank, by the door on the carpet. Servants or inferiors admitted and told to be seated, do so on their heels against the wall, in a position of restful balance difficult for Europeans to acquire. Thick round cushions of embroidered leather or cloth, and pillows covered to match the mattresses, are placed about for convenience, often being used across the knees for the elbows to rest upon, and so relieve the back as one sits cross-legged. Nothing else is placed upon the floor but candle-sticks and dining-table, and these only when in use.
The walls are usually hung with a dado of rush-mat or cloth (haiti), if not tiled, the favourite pattern representing a series of horse-shoe arches. Above this it is the fashion to hang a number of cheap German mirrors and clocks, the latter by preference of the musical variety, set to any odd times. No room is considered well furnished without a pair of "grandfather's" clocks as well, one on either side of the door-way. Undoubtedly the style of furnishing, as well as the etiquette observed, owes most of its features to the tent-life of the Arab, but though as dwellings these moveable homes are therefore the most typical, they must be dealt with separately.
The ceilings, which in the larger houses are very lofty, either show the roughly trimmed boughs which support the successive layers of boards or brushwood—rammed earth and plaster or tiles forming the upper floor or roofs—or are decorated in arabesques with or without boards. In palaces the well known "stalactite work" of wood is employed, the effect being produced, not by carving great blocks, as would at first appear, but by binding together a number of pieces of varying lengths, according to the design, and carving only their points.
The colours used in ceiling decoration are invariably warm, and afford a grateful relief to the eyes from the surrounding brightness. The walls above the dado are always left white, though in palaces often covered with incised plaster in geometrical patterns, called nakash el hadeed. The flat roofs are generally white-washed, and in the case of high buildings surrounded by a protecting wall, as they are the only promenades of the women, and are therefore strictly forbidden to men. If repairs have to be done, it is necessary to notify the police of the quarter and the neighbours, that their women may retire.
Though called flat, these roofs generally sag in the centre, from which grooves are cut to the edge and fitted with short pipes to throw water clear.
Rain-water is collected in tanks beneath the courtyards of many houses, a mosquito-haunted, well-like aperture taking the place of a fountain in the centre: many houses also possess wells. Nevertheless, in dry seasons it is often necessary to purchase water for drinking, if not for household purposes, the precious liquid being brought in goat-skins or barrels from wells and springs in the gardens outside, as the Moors rightly attribute great effects to good or bad water, and will sometimes incur considerable expense to secure a satisfactory supply. In the larger towns, the sites of which were chosen with a view to this convenience, the better houses are all furnished with running water, usually admitted first to a raised tank on one side of the court, supplying a fountain in the centre, not a jet such as we understand, but a pleasantly gurgling flow which only rises a few inches.
Drainage in Morocco is about as bad as it could be: no traps are employed, and the conduits are constructed of brick and stone roughly laid, ventilated often by openings to the street. The orifices in the houses are but square holes flush with the ground, on which stones or lids are laid.
Only the very large houses have baths of their own, invariably steam baths (hammam), heated by a furnace and cauldron (bormah) below, for there are plenty of very cheap public baths, which are open from 1 p.m. to sunset for women, and the rest of the time for men, while in the cities there are some exclusively devoted to either sex. On entering, right foot first, exclaiming, "God deliver us from the spirits!” the bather undresses on one of the raised alcoves (dukkanah) round the lobby, handing valuables to the attendant (gillas), and hanging up his clothes. In this apartment (el barid) there is often a fountain (hassarah) or tank of cold water, and a supply of pattens (kabakab) to raise the feet from the heated floor inside, beneath which pass and re-pass the flues of the furnace. Rough stones, (m'hakkah) smoothed on one face, are also sometimes provided, wherewith to rub the skin down after the bath.
Wrapping a towel round him, the bather proceeds first to the warm dry room, then to that heated by the steam escaping from the door of the hot room (es-sakhun) beyond, which he enters after a short pause. This is filled with steam from an open cauldron from which buckets are drawn and tempered with cold water from a tap, wherewith to wash in one of the recesses, the towel having been removed. An attendant or friend may give the bather a thorough soap down and a good scrub with halfa grass, after which he is treated to a rude but effectual massage (kibs) with limb-twisting and joint-cracking (tartak), the effect of it all being delightfully refreshing, and far more pleasant than the Turkish hot-air system.
But the Moorish public baths are very poor and dirty compared with those of the East, with which I have had an extensive acquaintance, though the best even of these do not compare with those of Europe. Those of Morocco are strictly closed to all but Muslimin, and my experiences have been gained at some risk in that guise. The scene in the hot rooms, dimly lit by coloured glass "eyes " in the vaulted roof, or by spluttering oil-lamps, is one not to be forgotten; swarthy figures moving slowly through the steamy atmosphere amid the splash of water and the crash of wooden buckets on the pavement, and resounding deadened voices.
Whenever it is possible, a Moorish house has a garden, not an expensive pleasaunce such as the well-to-do like to have outside the town, to which they can ride of an afternoon, or where they can picnic, but a small walled-in enclosure crowded with leafy creepers and shrubs interspersed with masses of hardy flowers, the commonest being geraniums, roses, jessamine, violets, lilies and pinks. Trellis-work covers the tile-paved walk, and water bubbles into an open tank, at times containing fish. Cut flowers and plants in pots are seldom seen in houses, but balsams and sweet herbs are frequently cultivated in cafes.
“Central Morocco Homes.” Image from text, by Dr. Rudduck and Budgett Meakin, 1902.
Moorish kitchens are fitted with low tiled benches with holes for charcoal fires (kanun), a funnel-shaped chimney stretching out over the whole. This is supplemented by earthen braziers (mijmar)—more convenient for handling, and therefore in more common use—on which pipkins of stew are left simmering all day long with marvellous results. Otherwise there are no fire-places in a Moorish house.
The material of which these Moorish houses are constructed is chiefly a sort of mud concrete, tabia, made by ramming certain stony soils moistened with water only, in a frame-work on the walls. The durability of this material is shown by the condition of the Alhambra at Granada, which was so constructed centuries ago, and indeed takes its name, which means simply "The Red," from the colour of the earth employed, which is also that of the buildings on the Marrakesh plain, locally known from the large admixture of ferruginous ochre, as "Blad el Hamarr, The Red Country." Where lime or gypsum can be obtained, these are used to finish the surface, inside at least, or the outside is simply white-washed, if it can be afforded, or left its natural colour, with a little plaster where the water from the roof runs down.
The peculiar appearance of weather-worn tabia wall, covered over with what look like pigeon-holes—and often serve as such,—is produced by the falling away of the inferior mud with which the "put-log" holes and those made by the binders of the frame-work are stopped. Out in the country the style of dwelling varies from province to province, and only the homes of the wealthy or the fort-like residences of the governors—kasbahs—are at all of the style described, though whenever possible they approach it, at least in furnishing.
Throughout the northern portions of the Empire the prevailing country residence, apart from the tent of the nomad, is an oblong, rectangular thatched hut, while in Central Morocco the shape is more generally that of an English bee-hive, but pointed. As the mountainous districts are entered, the mud and stone-built dwellings of the Berbers are observed, the roofs of which over-hang, the upper storeys being left as open verandahs. And in the Atlas itself the warlike tribes inhabit fortress-like erections which must be described when describing that people.
Meakin, Budgett. The Moors: A Comprehensive Description. S. Sonnenschein & Company, 1902.
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